The Melody of Worship

Psalm 100

Introduction

Psalm 147:1 ESV

1 Praise the Lord! For it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting.

If Psalm 147:1 is true… how come it is (historically) so difficult for us to actually “sing praises” , be “pleasant”, and agree on what is “fitting”?

Last week, Sean gave us a definition of worship: “To give honor where honor is due by virtue of something’s intrinsic character.” As followers of Christ, our unity revolves around the proclamation of his gospel. Jesus’ salvation for all who would call him Lord, SHOULD be the theme of all our worship in song! Salvation is good to sing about, pleasant, and fitting!

Today, we are talking about the mediums of music and singing. I can honestly say, in more than 20 years of ministry, more than 90% of the criticisms I’ve ever received or heard were about the kind of music played. It was “bad”, “wrong” or “done wrong”. The Scriptures have been far more gracious to musicians and composers in the body of Christ than the fellow worshipers praising God through those songs.

As a congregation, we are called to be unified around the proclamation of the gospel. Like most congregations, we constantly need to ask, “are we using the Scriptures to effectively choose mediums of art, written communication, and song in our modern world to preach Christ crucified and risen?” If we are, there’s far more diversity and unity we can display in our musical worship than in perhaps in any other form of corporate worship. There’s also a suffusing spirit of thankfulness over all generations because of what Christ has done for his children! It quells arguments rooted in preferences and lifts high the glory of Christ that God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit intended.